The following page documents an official global policy.
This page has been elaborated and approved by the community and its compliance is mandatory for all projects. It must not be modified without prior community approval.

Interface editors are trusted users who can edit all pages including the MediaWiki namespace on all wikis. They maintain templates and the site's JavaScript (*.js) and Cascading Style Sheets (*.css) resources. This permission is enabled on every public Wikimedia wiki that shares access via CentralAuth and SUL, and is only to be used for non-controversial maintenance, or by request of the local commmunity. Since users in this group can seriously disrupt Wikimedia wikis if used incorrectly, the interface editor permission is only assigned to users who have a strong track record in maintaining code and scripts.

Contents

This global group, named "Global interface editors" (global-interface-editor), is enabled on every Wikimedia wiki that shares access via CentralAuth and SUL (including locked wikis and excluding private and fishbowl wikis). Projects may not opt-out. However, interface editors must not make any controversial edits to the interface on projects where they are not in a local user group that grants this user right.

Interface editors should avoid making routine changes to the interface on larger wikis without prior agreement. Projects with established communities and processes for maintaining scripts should be avoided. Wikimedia Foundation staff who are editing the interface as part of their official duties are exempt, as the Wikimedia Foundation has its own internal policy regarding staff and user permissions.

Requests for this permission should be placed on Steward requests/Global permissions, and the discussion should last no less than five days; if there is consensus and the criteria from the scope are fulfilled, the permission will be granted by a steward. The need for this permission should be stated very clearly. Substantiating information should also be provided, such as MediaWiki development experience or other experience with code on Wikimedia wikis.

Alternatively, this permission may be granted to Wikimedia Foundation staff at the request of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Continued access to the interface is dependent on activity and community trust.

Misuse or abuse: If this permission is used for any actions which are controversial, such as major additions or removals to a site's interface, or continued disruption due to errors, access will be revoked by a steward. Requests can be made to any steward by placing a request on Steward requests/Permissions#Removal of access or, in emergencies, the #wikimedia-stewardsconnect IRC channel.

Inactivity: If an interface editor has made no global edits to the interface for six months, the permission may be revoked by a steward.
Wikimedia Foundation staff accounts are exempt from this policy when the rights are assigned for WMF purposes, but the permission may be removed at the request of the Wikimedia Foundation when it is no longer needed, usually via User:Philippe (WMF).

Review of an interface editor's actions can be requested from any steward or via Requests for comment.

If disputes arise with local communities, all efforts must be taken to resolve the issue(s) calmly. If in doubt, interface editors are advised to post advanced notice of their edits to the local community via a community noticeboard, explaining what the edits will achieve. If disputes still cannot be resolved, a request for comment may be initiated, or a review may be requested from any steward.

Interface editors should also create a global user page where they explain that they have these global permissions and how they may be used (i.e. by linking to this page).